Global investment company abrdn has completed the sale of its £7.4bn European-headquartered private equity operation to alternative investment firm Patria Investments for around £100m, with the business set to be renamed Patria Private Equity Trust.

Blackstone has upped the ante in the bidding war to acquire troubled music rights business Hipgnosis Songs Fund with an improved $1.6bn offer, trumping a rival $1.5bn bid from Concord, a US-based music investment group backed by Apollo Global Management, according to a report by Reuters.

Software-focused investment firm Thoma Bravo has reached an agreement with the board of directors at Darktrace, a UK specialist in cybersecurity artificial intelligence, to acquire the business in an all-cash $5.4bn deal.

Private equity firm GTCR has agreed to acquire AssetMark Financial Holdings, a wealth management technology platform for financial advisors, in a take-private deal that values the business at approximately $2.7bn.

The energy transition powered a recovery in European venture capital in the first quarter of 2024, as investors directed more funds to startups focused on solving the climate crisis, according to Dealroom’s Europe Q1 report.

US middle-market private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners has closed a $1.2bn single-asset continuation vehicle for its stake in Circana, a global consumer behaviour adviser, with Blackstone Strategic Partners and HarbourVest Partners acting as lead investors in the transaction.

Concord, a US investment group backed by Apollo Global Management, has raised its bid for Hipgnosis Songs Fund to $1.5bn, surpassing a competing offer from Blackstone and initiating a bidding war, according to a report by the Financial Times.

Funds advised by private equity firm Triton have agreed to sell EQOS, a European specialty installation and service company providing critical infrastructure, to Eiffage Énergie Systèmes, part of French construction group Eiffage.